Birmingham Nature Centre (formerly Birmingham Zoo) is a small zoo

Zoo

A zoological garden, zoological park, menagerie, or zoo is a facility in which animals are confined within enclosures, displayed to the public, and in which they may also be bred....

 on the edge of Cannon Hill Park

Cannon Hill Park

Cannon Hill Park is a park located in south Birmingham, England. It is the most popular park in the city, covering consisting of formal, conservation, woodland and sports areas...

 in Birmingham

Birmingham

Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. It is managed by Birmingham City Council

Birmingham City Council

The Birmingham City Council is the body responsible for the governance of the City of Birmingham in England, which has been a metropolitan district since 1974. It is the most populated local authority in the United Kingdom with, following a reorganisation of boundaries in June 2004, 120 Birmingham...

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Animals

The zoo features mainly small mammals. Its occupants include:

• Otter
  Otter
  The Otters are twelve species of semi-aquatic mammals which feed on fish and shellfish, and also other invertebrates, amphibians, birds and small mammals....
  
  s
• Meerkat
  Meerkat
  The meerkat or suricate, Suricata suricatta, is a small mammal belonging to the mongoose family. Meerkats live in all parts of the Kalahari Desert in Botswana, in much of the Namib Desert in Namibia and southwestern Angola, and in South Africa. A group of meerkats is called a "mob", "gang" or "clan"...
  
  s
• Lynx
  Lynx
  A lynx is any of the four Lynx genus species of medium-sized wildcats. The name "lynx" originated in Middle English via Latin from Greek word "λύγξ", derived from the Indo-European root "*leuk-", meaning "light, brightness", in reference to the luminescence of its reflective eyes...
  
  es
• Scottish Wild Cat
• Wallabies
  Wallaby
  A wallaby is any of about thirty species of macropod . It is an informal designation generally used for any macropod that is smaller than a kangaroo or wallaroo that has not been given some other name.-Overview:...
  
  
• Beaver
  Beaver
  The beaver is a primarily nocturnal, large, semi-aquatic rodent. Castor includes two extant species, North American Beaver and Eurasian Beaver . Beavers are known for building dams, canals, and lodges . They are the second-largest rodent in the world...
  
  s
• Capybara
  Capybara
  The capybara , also known as capivara in Portuguese, and capibara, chigüire in Venezuela, Colombia, and Ecuador ronsoco in Peru, chigüiro, and carpincho in Spanish, is the largest living rodent in the world. Its closest relatives are agouti, chinchillas, coyphillas, and guinea pigs...
  
  
• Red Squirrel
  Red Squirrel
  The red squirrel or Eurasian red squirrel is a species of tree squirrel in the genus Sciurus common throughout Eurasia...
  
  s
• Heritage breed farm animals
• Bird
  Bird
  Birds are feathered, winged, bipedal, endothermic , egg-laying, vertebrate animals. Around 10,000 living species and 188 families makes them the most speciose class of tetrapod vertebrates. They inhabit ecosystems across the globe, from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Extant birds range in size from...
  
  s (especially Owl
  Owl
  Owls are a group of birds that belong to the order Strigiformes, constituting 200 bird of prey species. Most are solitary and nocturnal, with some exceptions . Owls hunt mostly small mammals, insects, and other birds, although a few species specialize in hunting fish...
  
  s)
• Reptile
  Reptile
  Reptiles are members of a class of air-breathing, ectothermic vertebrates which are characterized by laying shelled eggs , and having skin covered in scales and/or scutes. They are tetrapods, either having four limbs or being descended from four-limbed ancestors...
  
  s
• Insect
  Insect
  Insects are a class of living creatures within the arthropods that have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body , three pairs of jointed legs, compound eyes, and two antennae...
  
  s

Red Pandas

The Nature centre used to have a pair of male Red Pandas. However these have been re-housed as part of the national breeding program. Ming Ming is visiting a female Red Panda in the Welsh Mountain Zoo

Welsh Mountain Zoo

The Welsh Mountain Zoo, sometimes called Colwyn Bay Zoo, is a zoological garden located near the town of Colwyn Bay in Conwy County, Wales. The zoo was opened on 18 May 1963 by the wildlife enthusiast and naturalist Robert Jackson...

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Babu

Babu is a red panda

Red Panda

The red panda , is a small arboreal mammal native to the eastern Himalayas and southwestern China. It is the only species of the genus Ailurus. Slightly larger than a domestic cat, it has reddish-brown fur, a long, shaggy tail, and a waddling gait due to its shorter front legs...

 who disappeared from the nature centre in November 2005 and spent four days "on the loose" before being discovered. Nature centre staff believe he was blown out of a tree and found himself outside his enclosure. His disappearance and the city-wide panda hunt that ensued made national headlines. After being discovered by a dog-walker in Moseley

Moseley

Moseley is a suburb of Birmingham, England, two miles south of the city centre. The area is a popular cosmopolitan residential location and leisure destination, with a number of bars and restaurants...

, Babu was dramatically reunited with his brother Tensing live on Midlands Today

Midlands Today

Midlands Today is the BBC's regional television news programme for the West Midlands region, which covers the north of Gloucestershire, Herefordshire, Shropshire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire, Worcestershire and the West Midlands county...

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